Petcube Bites Does More Than Watch Your Pet While You're Away.

As a dog owner, I'm really torn on the pet cube. Probably because I referred to myself as a dog owner and not a "pet parent" as Pet Cube Bites states in their advertising. So, what is Petcube Bites? It's a $229.00 camera that allows you to not only communicate with your pet while your out... it also allows you to dispense treats. Check out this video from the company's website:

That's not all it does. Petcube Bites offers cloud-based video storage starting at $10/month. So, if you're the kind of person that wants to come home after a long day out and watch what your dog did for eight hours, that option is for you.

The device has full video and sound along with the ability to talk to your pet through it and reward it with snacks, which is really neat.

Let's get back to why I'm torn on the device. Most dog owners' concerns, when being gone for long periods of time, are bathroom related. Pets usually have plenty of food and water... but no way to deal wth the consequences of that flood and water plus the addition of time. I'm not worried the dog isn't getting snacks or attention. I'm worried his bladder is going to burst. I'd almost be more worried that a pet would become obsessed with this magic talking box that tosses food at it and would spend most of its time barking at it hoping to "wake up" the owner that lives inside. How confusing would that be for an animal? What are they thinking? "My owner leaves the house and goes inside this box on the wall and ignores me for most of the day and once in a while tosses food at my face. I really wish they'd just let me go outside to go to the bathroom."

Look, this is a really cool product with a lot of neat tech inside. The ability to set how far you can "toss" a treat to your dog is pretty amazing, as is just the general ability to provide said treats. I'm just not sure who it's for. This seems more like it would cause more anxiety than it would relieve if you can constantly see your pet while you're gone.